There are a lot of modern United States stamps about which I don’t have particularly strong feelings. It’s nothing personal, but whether it’s the designs or the subject matter or whatever the case may be, my reaction is little more than a shrug of the shoulders.
The Wild and Scenic Rivers stamps released in May, on the other hand? Absolutely gorgeous!
Wild and Scenic Rivers stamp pane
The stamps picture a dozen North American rivers: the Merced, the Owyhee, the Koyukuk, the Niobrara, the Snake, the Flathead, the Missouri, the Skagit, the Deschutes, the Tlikakila, the Ontonagon, and the Clarion. The photo of the Merced River, which runs through Yosemite Valley, is used a second time as the pane’s selvage.
Again, these stamps are beautiful. I’ll be the first to admit that my love of landscapes is no doubt a big part of why I like these stamps so much, but wow. I purchased five panes; one pane’s worth of stamps are for my collection, and the rest are for use as postage. I would not be at all surprised to see this issue sell out just like last year’s O Beautiful stamps.
Flag stamp falls clearly in the counterfeit category
When I checked my post office box yesterday, there was only one item inside, but it was one I’d been eagerly anticipating: a 14¢ American Indian cover that I hope to share in a future post. Today, however, I wanted to examine the envelope in which that purchase was shipped.
When I first saw that envelope, something about the stamp on it didn’t look exactly right. I think it was the somewhat jagged left edge of the design that caught my eye, but in any case, I wasn’t sure until I got it home.
Cover bearing United States flag stamp
Now, after examining the stamp under a magnifying glass, I know for certain what’s wrong with it. It’s a counterfeit.
How can I be so sure? Well, it’s actually easy. Here are close-ups of the stamp on the envelope and a genuine copy of the same issue.
Left: counterfeit stamp from envelope. Right: genuine stamp.
Note that there is no microprinted “USPS” along the right edge of the fourth red stripe on the counterfeit stamp, while on the genuine there is. Note the repeated circular pattern in the shaded areas of the white stripes on the counterfeit, while the white stripes on the genuine appear more smooth. Note how the edges of some of the letters in the “USA FOREVER” on the counterfeit stamp are poorly defined. Note the poor color registration resulting in a jagged-edged design that was what caught my attention in the first place. And the list goes on.
I’ve blocked out the sender’s return address in my scan of the envelope since they may not even be aware that they’re using counterfeit postage, but I did send them a message through eBay to let them know they might want to take a closer look. Hopefully, now that they’ve been notified, they’ll start using genuine stamps to mail their eBay lots, maybe even some nice commemoratives.
At first glance, you might think the title of this post is wrong. This is, after all, a blog about stamps and stamp collecting, so surely I mean trains on stamps?
That is a reasonable guess. And it’s wrong. Let me explain.
My family and I last month visited the Texas Transportation Museum here in San Antonio. In addition to having a couple of old diesel locomotives and a few pieces of rolling stock, the museum has a large building full of old cars, posters, and model trains, including a nicely done HO scale layout running the length of one wall. It was there that I saw my very first stamp on a train since one of the boxcars in the layout bears an image of the 34¢ Greetings from New York stamp from the 2002 Greetings from America sheet.
Greetings from New York stamp boxcar
Although it’s not something I’ve ever pursued, model railroading is a hobby that has always held a certain amount of attraction for me. That’s more than likely because my granddad would take me down to his basement when I was a kid and show me his model train setup. It’s a nostalgia thing, and something that I connect with him.
Add stamps to the mix, and I feel a sudden urge to put on a conductor’s cap and start laying track. It may be a good thing that I don’t have room to do so! Anyway, this just goes to show that you can find stamps in unexpected places.
If you’ve been reading my blog for very long at all, you know my main philatelic interests: the 14¢ American Indian stamp, natural landscapes, and United States postage stamps in general. For the most part, my collecting activities are focused in one of those three areas.
Every once in a while, however, I run across an item that does not fit into any of my collections but still grabs my attention. Such is one of my acquisitions from the Texas Stamp Dealers Association’s San Antonio bourse last month: a 30¢ bicolored stamp issued by Hong Kong on August 29, 1946. This stamp and a $1 companion using the same design were the first postage stamps issued in Hong Kong following World War II.
Hong Kong 30¢ Peace stamp
We’ve got royalty (in the form of King George VI)! We’ve got lions! We’ve got a phoenix rising from the flames! I get the feeling that if there had been room for a dragon, the designers probably would have included that, too. It’s all rendered in a delightful blue and red that are in my opinion more visually appealing than the colors used for the stamp’s higher value sibling.
This is one beautiful stamp, wouldn’t you agree? And am I alone here, or do you also find yourself occasionally straying from your normal collecting areas if something really catches your eye?
This is a fairly straightforward update containing only a single file that itself contains only eight pages. They provide spaces for all of the United States stamps issued from March–May. Some of those stamps are showing up on incoming mail, so unless you’re on the annual update track, you’ll want to be sure to print this update for your album.
Please let me know if you have any comments or questions about the pages, and happy collecting!
